this is "world news." tonight, the fire ball and the free fall. nearly two dozen tourists trapped inside at this deadly balloon accident unravels in midair. the dramatic images coming in tonight. whiteout. in 19 states this evening, drivers blinded by blowing snow, so many of them stranded. and the warning about your roof this evening. how to know how much weight is too much under the heavy snow. meteorologist ginger zee is standing by. lost and then found? the mystery deepens tonight. the unfolding drama after the distress call from the family lost at sea. >> coast guard, coast guard, we are abandoning ship. >> was it all a hoax? and how much have taxpayers spent on the rescue already? and playing tag. the secret world, underwaters right after america's coastline.

what's drawing all those great white sharks? and tonight, how you can now track each shark from your own computer. the man who knew there was a shark right off the dock. >> oh, yeah, mary lee! big girl! good evening on this tuesday night. diane is on assignment. and we do begin here with those terrifying images from the sky. this evening, investigators are trying to figure out what caused a hot air balloon with nearly two dozen people inside in one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world, to explode and plummet to the ground. here are the images of it, as it was falling from the sky, the last few seconds before it crashed. tonight, the death toll at 19, and abc's alex marquardt leads us off from egypt. >> reporter: this amateur video shows the moment the vacation of a lifetime turned into tragedy.

a sunrise balloon ride suddenly enveloped in black smoke. you can see it billowing from the basket. then the balloon begins to collapse. deflated, it now plummets a thousand feet down to earth. photographer christopher michel watched it all unfold from another balloon. >> we heard a loud explosion and then a lot of smoke right behind us. our first feeling was it couldn't be a balloon but it turned out actually to be, unfortunately, this tragic accident. >> reporter: we now know that at 7:00 a.m. the balloon was coming in for a landing in a sugar cane field. that's when one of its cables got caught on a helium canister and started a fire. a pilot and two others jumped from 40 feet up as the balloon then shot back into the sky, exploding into flames before crashing down. 19 lives were lost, including one of those who jumped. they were from hong kong, japan and across europe. it's a marvel to float in a

balloon over luxor, flying over the desert with its remains of ancient egypt, the temples, the tomb of the pharaohs. those are some of the greatest sights for tourists to see in this country. and this accident couldn't have come at a worst time. egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the revolution two years ago. the government is now investigating how this tragedy could have happened. david? >> alex maher quart leading us off tonight from cairo. alex, thank you. and we have reported here on balloon accidents back here in the u.s., as well. in fact, last year alone, 15 of them. this one, just last month in san diego, the view from inside the basket as this balloon crash lands. tonight, abc's cecilia vega with an air balloon pilot who investigated hundreds of crashes. she watched the video with him today. >> reporter: have you ever seen anything like this? >> no, no. happens pretty fast and they're going to hit really hard. jumping off a ten-story

building. looking at how much smoke you had and how fast, it looked like it was an intense fire. i would guess the major injuries are occurring there before they get to the ground. >> reporter: they have any chance? >> looking at the flames, i don't think so. >> reporter: from looking at this, do you have any sense of what caused this? >> if i were investigating this, that's the first thing i look at, the aircraft. to see if i can see fuel lines that are clearly not hooked up to the tanks, so you know that would be the culprit. >> reporter: these balloons are so magnificent, you have the beautiful sceneries underneath. this can be dangerous. >> yeah, it could be. but from an accident safety standpoint, balloons are about ten times safer than airline travel. >> they are beautiful. but they can be dangerous. cecilia vega with that former faa inspector tonight. cecilia, thank you. we're going to turn this evening to that massive blizzard burring 19 states tonight. there is a new worry. the heavy snow on rooftops. abc's meteorologist ginger zee

with that tonight as she starts with the pictures from chicago. >> reporter: chicago tonight is in the thick of it. roads caked, the evening drive and the driving snow not pretty. >> it's bad. visibility is really bad. >> reporter: it's all the same storm that sent plows off the road in kansas city. and encased parts of texas and oklahoma. from above, you can see where the snow started and where it stopped. in wichita, the weight of the snow sent it crashing off this building. the snow so heavy and wet in missouri, this building south of kansas city crumbled. and in oklahoma, this roof killed a man after it buckled. >> we haven't had snow here like this in 20 years. >> reporter: shawn fixes roofs for a living. he's had several calls today. >> these roofs here that are flatter, they can't take as much weight. a steeper roof, more pitch, the weight handles it better. >> reporter: get this. a foot of wet snow on your roof can add up to 20 pounds per square foot.

that's like having several cars on top of your roof. experts tell us, if you hear any creeking or popping sounds, get out. and the next step? >> you can call a roofing company to try to get them to remove it. >> reporter: you see that huge tree right behind me into that house? well, that's been a problem with this heavy, wet snow, too. and it is snowing again here. but this is just a little bit. most of the storm has moved into chicago, wisconsin, michigan and as it moves to the north and east, by wednesday into thursday, just rain for the east coast. david? >> ginger zee on the storm and where it's headed tonight. ginger, thank you. we turn overseas this evening and to that storm playing out in rome. last night here, we reported on that secret report prepared for the pope, about the culture within the walls of the vatican. believed only the pope and three cardinals know what's inside. late word tonight on just what pope benedict will be called after he resigns. i want to bring in christiane amanpour in rome tonight. christiane, great to see you. and first here, what have we learned about pope benedict once he officially steps down? >> reporter: we were told by the

vatican that he will continued to be called benedict, his hold willness and given the title pope emeritus. he will continue to wear white, but not the, you know, elaborate papal vestments. a simple white outfit that he will have his signature red prada shoes and wear brown leather shoes. and he will live in a monastery here within the vatican. >> putting the red prada shoes aside. very quiet scene behind you there tonight, but tomorrow, a much different picture. >> reporter: so, tens of thousands of pilgrims are expected here tomorrow, where the pope will give his final general audience. and he'll tour around this square in the pope mobile. and the next day, at 8:00 p.m. rome time, he leaves and right after that, that is when the search goes on for the new pope. >> it begins anew. christiane amanpour reporting in from rome tonight. back here at home tonight, and president obama finally has

his nominee for secretary of defense confirmed. chuck hagel, a republican, who had been a senator for a dozen ye years. republicans had delayed his vote and objected over his views on iran among other things, but tonight, the senate confirming him by a vote of 58-41, with four republicans voting for him. tonight, meanwhile, congress has just two days left now to make a deal or automatic spending cuts will kick in on friday. and this evening, the president arguing it would not only hurt jobs, but among other things, the country's defense. abc's chief white house correspondent jon karl breaking it down tonight. >> reporter: the president took his battle over looming spending cuts to the giant military shipbuilding facility in newport news, virginia. warning of lost jobs and worse. >> this work, along with hundreds of thousands of jobs, are currently in jeopardy, because of politics in washington. >> reporter: not just jobs, national security at risk, too. across the bay in norfolk is the "uss harry truman." it is supposed to be on its way

to the persian gulf, but has to stay docked because of the cuts. back in washington, it's getting ugly. >> we should not have to move a third bill before the senate gets off their ass and begins to do something. >> reporter: caught in the middle, the workers. >> something ever happens, i would lose my house, everything. >> reporter: the pentagon calls the cuts stupid. and it's hard to disagree. get this. there's billions of dollars the pentagon wants to cut, but isn't allowed. like the upgraded m-1 abrams tank, $3 billion. and the upgraded global hawk spy drone, $2.5 billion. with just over 48 hours until these cuts go into effect, you might think there would be urgent meetings going on here at the white house or up con capitol hill, but you would be wrong. there are no meetings or even phone calls on the schedule right now between the president and republican leaders. david? >> and friday is coming quickly, jon. our thanks to you tonight. we're going to turn to iran this evening, where tonight, the iranian team is at the negotiating table with not only the u.s., but several other nations. those critical nuclear talks

we've been reporting on for the last week here. as you know, we're just back from iran, where we witnessed first hand the economic sanctions led by america. so many of the iranians at the markets, at the schools, telling us they can feel it. many telling us also they're hoping for a break in the impasse. we're going to turn tonight an abc news exclusive. the portrait of families and young children we rarely see, as they escape the fighting in syria. and this number tonight. nearly 5,000 syrians fleeing every day. abc's bob woodruff this evening in lebanon, on the syrian border, where families are living in former prison cells, any place they can find, to survive. >> reporter: mothers and children in search of survival. shelter for some is an abandoned prison. this is your new home? how many people sleep in here? >> five. >> reporter: five of you? is it cold in here? >> very cold. >> reporter: this is your new place? this 12-year-old shows me her life here. bars on the windows.

bare cement floors. it is unimaginable what these children have witnessed. when you are sleeping at night, do you have dreams of shells? she tells us she has nightmares of the sheing. what did you see? >> translator: we saw bodies and the planes were dropping bombs. >> reporter: and you saw people that were killed? >> yes. >> reporter: you thinking about your father? it's okay, sweetie. when night falls, the children struggle to stay warm. many are sick. so cold that families cook inside their tents. two days ago, a fire ripped through the camp, row after row. but morning light brings hope. children warm their feet. the charity save the children is here, trying to help. they've even set up a school nearby. but fear is just beneath the surface. this little girl broke into

tiers. she thought our camera was a gun. we showed her she was safe. everyone misses their old life and those left behind. today, they can't afford to call home, so, we lend them our phones. mothers and children talking to their families for the very first time in months. smiles say everything. >> hello? >> the smiles from the children there. bob woodruff joins you tonight from beirut. we are all watching here the suffering from half a world away. when we report on children like we, we get asked is there anything anyone can do this far away? >> reporter: they really need right now, they need warmer clothes and shoes, they need fuel for inside their tents so they can actually cook and then also heat with that. we also know that the save the children, $20, you can give, they can actually get them, you know, student kits, which mean they get pencils and paper and backpacks. and also, the doctors without

borders takes care a lot of the medical needs. they said, for $20, they could get vaccines for 44 children to imewe nice them from measles. there's a lot to be done and a lot of people are going to want to do it. >> all right, bob, thank you. and for those of you at home that would like to learn more, go to abcnews.com sl/worldnews. back here, a major headline this evening. the ceo of yahoo!, telling workers they can no longer have those flexible schedules that allow them to work from home. we wanted to know what you make of it all. we hope you'll listen to this and weigh in tonight. 37-year-old marissa mayer taking over the helm at yahoo! last year. on the day she accepted the job, she announced she was pregnant. she made headlines again, by taking just two weeks maternity leave, before returning to work. tonight, she's back in the news again, this time, causing a firestorm. telling employ eaches, men and women, no working from home. yahoo! had allowed it, flexible scheduling, to help its

employees work around their own schedules at home. now, this memo from yahoo!'s hr. "to become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important. so, we need to be working side-by-side." tonight, other ceos weighing in. richard branson tweeting, give people the freedom of where to work and they will excel. but tina brown of the daily beast arguing the other side. cheers for marissa mayer for making staff show up at the office. the debate coming as more moms and dads take advantage of flexible schedules. nearly 10% of americans now work from home at least once a week. but soon, at yahoo!, no longer. we did reach out to yahoo! for comment, they told us, "we do not discuss internal matters," and ceadded, "this is what's rit for yahoo! right now." tweet me @davidmuir or diane @dianesawyer to let us know what you're thinking tonight. coming up, that desperate

search for a family lost at sea. >> this is the charm blow, we are abandoning ship. >> but tonight here, what we are just learning, as we ask, how much of your taxpayer dollars have been spent already on a search that has just now turned into a hoax. [ coughs ] [ angry gibberish ] [ justin ] mulligan sir. mulligan. take a mulligan. i took something for my sinuses, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] truth is, a lot of sinus products don't treat cough. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope, but alka seltzer plus severe sinus does it treats your worst sinus symptoms, plus that annoying cough. [ angry gibberish ] [ fake coughs ] sorry that was my fault sir. [ male announcer ] alka seltzer plus severe sinus. [ breathes deeply ] ♪ oh, what a relief it is! [ male announcer ] try alka seltzer plus severe sinus day and night for complete relief from your worst sinus symptoms. with thermacare heatwraps. thermacare works differently. it's the only wrap with patented heat cells

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but this question -- was it a hoax? here's abc's nick watt. >> reporter: hundreds of rescuers combing 20,000 square miles of treacherous ocean. the coast guard, the navy, the national guard, a massive search sparked sunday afternoon by this distress call. >> coast guard, coast guard, we are abandoning ship. this is the charm blow. we are abandoning ship. >> reporter: that man claimed he, his wife and two young children were clinging to a life ring and a cooler after their yacht sank 65 miles off the california coast. >> we approach every search as if it's our own children. >> reporter: rescuers lay their own lives on the line, but the search turned up nothing, and a yacht called the charm blow? the coast guard can't find it registered anywhere or any missing persons reports that tally. after 42 fruitless hours -- >> the sector commander has made the determination to suspend active searching on this case. >> reporter: an expensive hoax? last year, authorities spent over $300,000 searching for a

party boat called "the blind date" off new jersey. >> we have three deceased. nine injured. we've had an explosion on board and that's -- >> reporter: garbage. there was no explosion. and remember balloon boy? the 6-year-old from colorado who apparently floated away on a homemade balloon? he was found hiding in an attic at home. "the charm blow" might now be added to that hall of shame. >> we are not investigating it directly as a hoax, but we're pushing every avenue. it certainly is a possibility. >> reporter: a possibility that all this effort was for nothing. a prank. a joke. but who finds it funny? nick watt, abc news, los angeles. >> that is the question. our thanks to nick. when we come back here, you'll want to stay tuned for this. where that giant me yourite came from. and tonight, the one clue that from. and tonight, the one clue that revealed it all. d a great spot, not easy to find, but worth it. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort.

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we're going to turn to the "instant index" here on a tuesday night. and we begin here with that familiar boom heard around the world. who could forget it? tonight, scientists have figured out where that giant meteor rite came from. they used all the videos from russian drivers and their dash cams and the traffic cams, which have time stamps. astronomers have calculated it was 55 feet across and came from an asteroid belt between mars and jupiter. tonight, first lady michelle obama revealing what's truly behind her greying husband. mrs. obama sitting down with robin, who, of course, is back

on "gma" this week. and mrs. obama said it's not the drama in washington behind her greying husband -- >> he's a little grey. people think the grey is from his job. it's from his children. >> many dads can relate to that. the first lady with robin this morning. now, to some very rare images this morning. irresistible photographer behind them. we've seen the tiny cameras used by extreme at leiths. but that's little finn right there, 14 months old. he grabs his uncle's camera for a tour of the house. there's the ceiling fan. about to take us on a tour of the living room carpet. there's the view he could provide. he focuses the camera on the true star of it all -- himself. we loved watching finn today. when we come back here tonight, the great white sharks right off our coast this evening. and how you can track each of them from your home computer.err diabetes. there's a lot i had to do... watch my diet. stay active. start insulin... today, i learned there's something i don't have to do anymore.

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finally, those great white sharks right off our coast. abc's linsey davis with how we can all track them. >> reporter: meet mary lee. the 16-foot long, 3,500-pound great white tagged and released just off the coast of cape cod. >> oh, yeah, mary lee! >> reporter: and this is chris fisher, who is responsible for putting sharks on the map. literally. watch as his team attaches a gps satellite tracking device to this great white. now, each month, more than a million people are logging on to check up on the whereabouts of the nearly 40 sharks he's tagged. new yorkers don't tend to think about sharks -- >> reporter: see this little orange dot? that's mary lee. in just the past six months, she's hugged the shoreline from massachusetts to jacksonville, florida.

>> i had to call the authorities in jacksonville beach, because mary lee -- >> reporter: got too close? >> look at this. she was within 200 yards of a surf spot in a public peer. >> reporter: are sharks coming closer than they used to? >> nobody knows what they used to do. this is the first time we're establishing these tracks to understand what normal even is. >> reporter: fisher hopes his groundbreakinger are search will move people to protect these massive predators, and replace people's fear with curiosity. linsey davis, abc news, new york. >> and you can learn how to track those sharks at abcnews.com. diane, right here tomorrow night. have a good evening. good night. ♪

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